The Joy of Trek

I grew up on Star Trek–you know, that early integrated starship crew traveling around the galaxy on a mission of exploration rather than expansion? I also grew up reading comic books like Spider-man and X-Men. I played a lot of D&D as a teenager. I read SF and Fantasy almost exclusively back then–everything from Heinlein to Robinson to Saberhagen to Norton. I LOVED Star Wars and the subsequent novels (though I despise everything about the prequel trilogy and the train wreck that is Clone Wars).

Someone asks “why do adults care about this stuff?”

As a geek from day one–I was reading comic books in Kindergarten–I have to say “Because we don’t have a stick up our asses.”

Just saw the Star Trek reboot yesterday and loved it, though I have to wonder how someone who doesn’t “get it” can look around and NOT see how it’s influenced the growth of our technology. Flip phones and PDAs, Voice Recognition software and GPS. These things were BORN of SF and integrated into our popular culture through Star Trek.

“You, Mr. Burton, were not put on this world to GET IT.”

I also grew up watching the old b/w movies of another era, the ones some people think epitomize the “golden age” of American entertainment. See, this was back before you could dependably see modern movies broadcast across all the networks at any given time, when the independent channels, such as they were, put on old movies during the day and late at night. But, honestly, I’m still not sure why anyone would prefer them to modern fare.

One person’s trash is another’s treasure. This is true in movies, books, and music more than anywhere else. I don’t expect everyone to love everything I love, or dislike what I dislike. If I say I think modern American rock music sucks, I’m sure I’ll find those who agree and those who do not. If I say American metal has gone to the dogs (almost literally, given the sounds most so-called vocalists make) there are those who’d get offended.

When one delves into the world of literature, things get even more contentious. You have “real” literature (the kind of the stuff that made my college Am Lit class something akin to mental torture–I never knew boredom could be so painful), and you have “trash” literature–like anything speculative. SF, Fantasy, and the like. MY cup of tea.

I know my own novels aren’t for everyone and that’s okay. A long time ago I accepted the advice to “write for yourself” because you can’t please anyone and, frankly, who wants to? I’m not looking to write “The Great American Novel,” whatever that is. My stuff is fast-past fantasy adventure with (hopefully) engaging characters. Entertainment with maybe a little social commentary thrown in from time to time. That’s good enough for me.

On one of my email groups someone asked recently, “so whatever happened to scary vampires?” My answer? Anne Rice humanized them, Buffy knocked them down to size, and Twilight made them household guests. The time of scary vamps is over. There will probably never be another “Salem’s Lot.”

Of course, there are those who revile anything to do with the restless undead, and that’s okay. Fangtasia isn’t for everyone. But it’s funny how many people are happy to get their hate on for anything Twilight related, almost in knee-jerk reaction to super hype. Don’t worry, folks, it’ll fade. That’s what hype does. But, in the meantime, millions of people are reading for pleasure who have never done so before. And that’s a win all around.

So, a message to my fellow geeks. When you’re sitting at a bar discussing the evolution of the Dark Knight, please be aware of the “normal” sitting alone at the bar behind you, soaking it all up and gaining nothing from it. NOT getting it at all. Let’s keep in mind, “Normals” are people too. Ostensibly.

It’s funny, considering that “Normals” are what the people in my future novels call those without altered DNA–the small subsection of humanity that hasn’t been changed by Loki’s metaviruses. In my world, people had to redefine what it meant to be “human.” Silly things like race and/or nationality become far less important when the guy next to you on the bus might be a vampire or lycanthrope.

And in the end that’s what all this geek stuff is about. Striving to understand OUR world better through the lens of a world that might be similar, but just different enough to give us all a new perspective on old assumptions. Star Trek and the comic book movies MIGHT seem like a waste of time, but they’ve managed to inspire whole generations and given many of us new things to think about. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they’re not going away. The 80 + millon dollar opening weekends make that a certainty.

I’d rather have a spider-man reading Trekker geek in the Oval Office than a misanthropic missing link. Call me weird, but that’s just how I see it. You think Obama isn’t going to “waste” the 126 minutes watching the new Trek? Given that he once flashed Leonard Nimoy (that’s the fellow who played Spock, to the uninitiated) the Vulcan hand-sign, I personally think that’s pretty damn unlikely.

Yeah, I’m a geek. And I don’t feel a moment of shame about it. May we ALL “Live Long and Prosper.”